By Rodrick Anderson

randerson@americanpress.com

HATHAWAY — In a rematch of last year’s Class B quarterfinals, it looked as if Hathaway and JS Clark were in for another long battle.

But, led by guard D’Marcus Fugett, the Bulldogs pulled away in the second half to win the season’s first matchup between the defending District 7-B co-champs, 73-58 Tuesday evening.

“We let them get us out of our game plan,” Hathaway head coach Eric Willis said. “We started playing to their speed, trying to keep up with them. We knew that it would be tough, it would be tough to stop them. We just tried to play too fast with them.”

Hathaway (15-4, 0-1) tied the score at 34-34 on a pair of Ian Augustine free throws with 6:46 left in the third quarter.

But Fugett, who scored a game-high 26 points, went to work. About a minute later he hit a jumper and a deep 3-pointer to put the Bulldogs (9-9, 1-0) up 41-34.

In the fourth quarter, Fugett scored seven consecutive points on a jumper, steal and fast break and a 3 to help the Bulldogs pull away for good.

‘We were close, but we were missing open layups,” Willis said. “We aren’t going to beat anybody missing open layups like we did early in the second half and early in the fourth quarter.

“We were moving the ball and getting everything we wanted as far as looks go, but we were not making them.”

The Hornets owned a tenuous lead through most of the first quarter, led by senior guard Noah Guidry, who scored nine points in the opening 8 minutes.

His first points came on a 3-pointer just under 2 minutes into the game to give the Hornets their first lead, 6-3. He added a three-point play after a hard foul in the lane for an 11-7 lead, then knocked down his second 3 of the game for the Hornets’ largest lead of the first quarter, 14-9, with 2:25 left.

Guidry finished with 13 points and Augustine led the Hornets with 19 points.

“We moved the ball well like we have been moving it,” Willis said. “We usually pass the ball a whole bunch and move it around pretty good.

“But the second quarter, we started dribbling around and let them get us out of sorts.”

But the Bulldogs shut Guidry down in the second quarter. Augustine’s 3 with 6:15 left in the second quarter gave the Hornets a 22-16 lead, but the Bulldogs went on a 9-1 run with help of 3s from Brylen Tyler and Channing Arvie to take a 25-23 lead.

Augustine got a bucket in the post to cut JS Clark’s lead to 30-28 with 1:07 left in the first half.

JS Clark 73

Hathaway 58

JS Clark (9-9, 1-0): D’Marcus Fugett 26, Brylen Tyler 18, Channing Arvie 12, Joseph Levier 10. Hathaway (15-4, 0-1): Ian Augustine 19, Noah Guidry 13, Koyden Lopez 12.